NEW YORK

REPRINTED

WILLIAM ABBATT

1915

Being Extra No. 39 of The Magazine of History with Notes and Queries

RES ardua vetustis novitatum dare; novis auctoritatem; obsoletis, nitorem; obscuris, lucem; fastiditis, graticum; dubiis, fidem; omnibus vero naturam, et natural sua omnia.

Itaque etiam non assecutis, voluisse abunde pulchrum utque magnificum est.

(It is a difficult thing to give newness to old things, authority to new things, beauty to things out of use, fame to the obscure, favor to the hateful (or ugly), credit to the doubtful, nature to all and all to nature. To such, nevertheless as cannot attain to all these, it is greatly commendable and magnificial to have attempted the same.)

Pliny.—preface to his Natural History.